Christodoulos Makris

Organised by Gregory Betts - poet, scholar, editor, and 2018-19 Craig Dobbin professor of Canadian Studies at University College Dublin (UCD) - and taking place at UCD and associated spaces over three days 25-27 April 2019, TEXT / SOUND / PERFORMANCE: Making in Canadian Space is a highly ambitious conference and gathering of scholars, students, writers, and community partners. There's a keynote address and masterclass workshop on each of the three pillars of the conference, alongside academic and creative panels, roundtables, and performances. A masterclass on digitization and archival practices is also being offered, in collaboration with the Irish Poetry Reading Archive (UCD) and the SpokenWeb Project (Concordia). Other forms of nontraditional engagement, including performances, thematic unconference-style discussions, and exhibitions, will supplement the panels, classes, and plenary talks. The conference will feature papers and presentations that expand, trouble, decentraliz...

As well as co-producing and programming the closing event of the 2nd European Poetry Festival in Ireland in partnership with festival director SJ Fowler, I will also be taking part in two of its events in the UK: the European Camarade at the Rich Mix Arts Centre in London (the grand event of the festival) on Saturday 6 April; and the Manchester European Camarade at the International Anthony Burgess Foundation on Saturday 13 April. My participation in the Festival is sponsored by Culture Ireland - the government body promoting Irish arts worldwide. My thanks to them for the generous support. For the London event , which will see 34 poets from 25 nations in 17 pairs present brand new collaborations, I will be performing with the remarkable Paris-based poet, artist, novelist, filmmaker and translator  Pierre Alferi . Pierre and I are engaged in a 'stonewash' translation process, which involves passing brand new poems of ours through a back-and-forth series of radical re-ve...